I Need You
by Wolburge
Summary: Right after the events of HTTYD 2. Both Astrid and Hiccup are hurting from the events that have transpired and they seek solace in each other.


If there was one thing the people of Berk were good at it was hosting celebrations at short notice. Half of the town needed major reconstruction from ice damage, but that was something to deal with tomorrow. Tonight the people celebrated! A battle well won from earlier today, the arrival of a new Chief whom the town loved, and even though it broke many hearts, Stoick's memorial.

But considering the events leading up to the evening, it didn't surprise Astrid when she saw Hiccup leave for some fresh air after his toast to Stoick. The people were gathering, telling stories of their lost Chief, which ranged from dragon hunting to mundane town events. But after about three stories had been told and Hiccup had not returned, she realized he was doing more than just getting some fresh air.

She excused herself from the hall and made her way down the familiar path to Hiccup's house. She had a heavy feeling on her heart as she got closer to the house. When it was in eyes distance she knew he was there for sure, seeing the lower floor of the house dimly lit by the lighting mechanism he had created. He had done it for Stoick, who was constantly running out during the night to deal with dragons and town folk. He had kept running into furniture or walls in the dark of the night, so Hiccup created a system of dim candles that burned through the night for when he needed to rush to the center of the town.

She made her way to the door, gently pushing it open. The inside of his house was open, her eyes glimmered across the right corner, where he had stayed when recovering from his leg injury with the Red Death. She let out a sigh, times were much simpler then, when the only pain was waiting for him to wake up. She made her way up the stairs to their much smaller second story.

She was confused when she saw no light coming from Hiccups room, but when she realized what room the light was coming from a single tear fell down her face. She made her way cautiously down the hallway to where the light was coming from. She craned her ear to the door to listen for any sound, but nothing was coming from behind the door. No silent sobs, no quiet snoring that would tell her he had fallen asleep, there was just silence. She started to push open the door.

"Hiccup?"

"Astrid?" His response was gritty, he might not be currently crying, but he had cried earlier that evening before she came.

"May I come in Hiccup?" Her voice was soft and gentle.

"Please do." Her heart broke at the sadness of those words. He had walked home alone with Toothless, only to realize that loneliness was not what he needed.

As Astrid walked into the room she realized Toothless was curled up in the corner, keeping a silent watch on his friend. Hiccup was laying perpendicular on the bed, staring at the ceiling, unmoving.

She felt herself breathe out his name as she saw what state he was in. His cheeks red from tears, his eyes red and puffy. She made her way over to him, laying beside him, but she didn't look at the ceiling like he did, she just looked at him.

"This is the Chief's room. It has always been the Chief's room. For centuries, with Chief's building's constantly being rebuilt because of dragon damages, the Chief has always had his own room. And the son or daughter of the Chief comes to the correct age and moves from their room to the Chief's room. And it makes sense, this is the largest bedroom in the house. It has the most comfortable mattress, made out of the most exquisite of sheep hairs. It has this giant chest for armor in the corner. This is the Chief's room."

The room was quiet after his words. Astrid just looked at him with a concern on her face, but he didn't look at her, he just kept staring at the ceiling. She felt her heart weigh more and more on her as the quiet tears began to stream down her face.

"You shouldn't have had to lose him. I am so sorry." She whispered in his ears apologetically. He turned to face her, a look of confusion beginning to grow on his face.

"It's not your fault Astrid." She closed her eyes for a moment and nodded to him, ashamed of what she was thinking and terrified to say her thoughts out loud to him. His hand came up to her face, brushing away the tears falling down her face.

"You just shouldn't have had to lose him, and I know it hurts, and I know the world hurts right now because he's not in it, but it's gonna be okay." A single tear rolled down his face as she said that, which only made her heart break more. "You know, you really scared me today. When I saw you in that ice, I thought I was going to lose you. I thought..." Her voice trailed off as she shut down that thought in her mind.

"What Astrid?" Hiccup asked concerned. "What did you think?"

Her eyes flickered up to him, concealing some dark thought. "I think you need some rest." She shifted her weight and started to slide of the bed. Hiccups lips pursed together as he looked at her with slight confusion.

"Astrid you can tell me anything..." His hand reached for her cheek, but she ducked away from it.

"You have had so much happen in the past few days, you just need to rest right now." She said as she maneuvered herself next to his prostetic. She started unbuckling the straps that held the metal to his leg.

"Astrid you really don't have to..." Hiccup stopped himself though, he was really quite tired, and he knew Astrid wouldn't listen to him if he rejected her help. He just laid back on the bed and let her finish her work. When he felt the relief of the weight and clunk of the metal on the ground he lifted what was left of his leg onto the bed.

Astrid climbed back onto the bed and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. "I'm sorry I scared you today." He whispered into her ear. "I-I was scared too."

"Hiccup-"

"I thought about you, and all the things we were supposed to do that we hadn't yet. We have our entire lives for adventures and for a moment there I thought I wasn't even going to be able to say goodbye."

"Don't say that, don't ever say that." He anticipated some type of punch or elbowing, but nothing occurred, and he realized how fragile the two of them were in the situation.

"Stay tonight, please."

"I don't think you really want me to stay." She regretted those words almost immediately, scolding herself for not finding a better way to say it without being so ambiguous.

"Astrid I need you." He said as he looked into her eyes. Her expression fell, she couldn't hide how upset she was now. He needed her now, but she had failed him earlier, how could she break it to him, that it was all her fault all of this had happened. How could she tell him that she was the one who had instigated Drogo into going toward Berk. She was the reason Stoick was not there, she was the reason that Berk was a mess, and that Hiccup, her Hiccup, had almost died. She was the reason Hiccup was in this new room, heartbroken. Her eyes fell, and she took a deep breath before she chose to speak.

"I told Drogo Berk had dragons." His eyes narrowed, confused at what the point was. "I didn't know about the alpha he had. I didn't know about his power. I thought if he knew that Berk had dragons, that it had you, he would be intimidated. I thought...wrong. Everything awful that has happened the past few days was because of me and my words. Hiccup," She looked up to his gaze, "Hiccup I'm so sorry."

She had expected anger. She had expected rage and pain and heartbreak. She expected him to have thrown her out of the room and never see her again.

He held her closer. His long thin arms, that appeared to have no strength crushed her body into his.

"Stay with me," He whispered.

"But-"

"You didn't know."

She felt the tears beginning to fall again. "You almost died."

"And I lost my father, and Berk got destroyed, and it's not your fault. It's his. Drogo did all of this. He was going to find out about Berk eventually, we were going to have this fight, and it hurts. It hurts that my father is gone. It hurts that I had this family and then I didn't. It hurts what Toothless had to go through. But if it had happened differently, and something were to have happened to you or Toothless..." She felt him squeeze her tighter. "I need you," He whispered.

She squeezed him in reassurance. She felt him begin to maneuver himself to fit the correct way on the bed and underneath its furs. Astrid snuggled up close to him. He kissed her on the forehead and wrapped his arms around her. Her head lay on his chest, listening to his slow and steady heartbeat.

"I love you." She said the words just loud enough to fill the space between them, turning into wisps of sound when they spread further.

"I love you too," He cooed into her ear.

They lay there, embraced with one another, needing only the company of the other. Eventually they drifted off into a peaceful sleep, void of the darkness of the events that had occurred.


End file.
